Attachment for vacuum cleaners



May 27, 1941. c. R. PoLLrrT 2,245,120

Y ATTACHMENT FOR VACUUM CLEANERS Filed Nov. v14, 1958 Patented May 27, 1941 UNITED STATESl PATNT OFFICE ATTACHMENT FOR VACUUM CLEANERS Chester R. Pollitt, Canton, Ill. Application November 14, 1938, Serial No. 240,333

6 Claims.

This invention relates to attachments for vacuum cleaners and more particularly to 'those attachments which are tted to the end of a hose for the application of suction or force in out of the way placesand removed from the main body of the vacuum cleaner.

The object of this inventionis to provide an attachment which will be particularly adapted for the removal of dirt or dust from coiled bed springs and the like places.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment which has a plurality of brush elements, any one of which is separable or removable for the replacement of another brush element when the original one becomes worn out, that is, one brush element may be removed independently of the other of the plurality of such elements, all of which are removably attached to the body of the attachment.'

The invention comprises in general a tube having a portion adapted to befitted to the vacuum cleaner hose, and a second portion, projected from the first portion, which has air openings therein circumferentially spaced thereabout and brush elements fixed to the projected portion so thatA there is brush means between adjacent air openings. In the preferred form the brush elements are separable from the projected portion for replacement by other brush elements.

For other objects and a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is an elevational view of the preferred form of the invention showing the tube fitting attached to the vacuum cleaner hose and with the separa- Vble brush elements in place in the fittings. Fig.

2 is a similar view of the ttings removed from the vacuum cleaner hose and without the separable brush elements attached thereto. Fig. 3 is an end View looking from right to left in Fig. 1 showing the arrangement of the air openings with respect to the removable elements. Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of a fragment of the attachment taken through the brush element. Fig. 5 is another fragmentary v'lew of a portion of an attachment and illustrating the means for maintaining the brush elements in their slots. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing only part of the attachment a-nd illustrating a modified form of the invention. Fig. 7 is an elongated view taken in cross section and illustrating the manner of connecting the brush elements'in this form of the invention. Fig. 8 is a cross sectional View taken' along the line 8-8 of Fig. 7 and showing the indentations or their reception of the brush elements.

`Referring now to the preferred formof the invention in Figs. 1-5 there is shown a vacuum cleaner hose I0 forming a part of a vacuum cleaner apparatus to which may be connected the attachment of the present invention. Through this hose air is sucked in by the vacuum cleaning apparatus in a well known manner. On all occasions the direction'of air therethrough may be changed and air can be forced out of the hose in a manner which is'also well known.

The attachment comprises a tube Il having a first or attaching portion I2 adapted to be fitted over the end of the vacuum cleaner hose I0 and a second or tapered portion I3 projected from the rsi; portion and preferably tapered for the varying sizes of the hole through coil springs of a bed spring. This second or tapered portion I3 has means for the attachment of separate brush elements I4 to be presently described in detail hereafter.

'I'his tapered portion may be formed from a pipe of equal diameter by cutting out portions and drawing the remaining portions I5 together to provide the tapered form shown herein and leavifng longitudinally extending open ended slots i6.

Referring more specifically to FigsA and 5 there is shown a single brush element. This element is formed by providing a, rodlike member I'I about which the brush fibers I8 are made fast thereto bymeans of a partial sleevelike member a I9 wrapped about the fibers and the rod member I'I to retain the brush fibers. In the wrapping oi the sleeve element there is provided in the sides thereof, recess means 20 and 2l being so spaced as to fit in the slotted portion I6 by sliding of the sleeve through the open end thereof from right to left. This recess means is such as to maintain the element against both inward and outward movement with respect to the tube. The element will thereby be firmly fixed on the tube.

At the left end of each slot I6 there is provided a hole opening 22 for the reception of a hook portion 23, see Fig.v 5, forming a part of the rod member I1. When the brush element I4 is slid Well in the slot the hook member 23 is so adapted to register with the opening 22 that brushelement I4 will be maintained in the slot. 'Ihere is a slight play in the recess means 20 and 2| to permit the engagement of the hook member 23 to slide over the portion 24 and into the hole 22. It should now be seen that the brush element may be readily inserted and separably removed from the tube I I.

. The remaining portions l5 have air openings 2i therein. These air openings are arranged in setsand each set are circumferentially spaced about the tapered portion I3 but as shown in Fig. 3 some of the sets have more openings than other of the sets. Specifically there are four of such sets about the tapered portion and one set for each remaining portion I'S. 'I'he sets are so arranged that a set having three openings will be diagonally opposite to a set having two openings but the individual openings of one set will be out of -alignment with respect to the individual openings of the other set. This is so that air currents in being drawn through the openings will not collide with one another and tend to prevent the best performance of the attachment. For clearness the openings of the set having but two openings therein are designated as openings 26. Between adjacent sets of air openings there will be a single brush element and since there are four sets of openings ment and thence into the vacuum cleaning apparatus. l

It should now be apparent that there has been provided a brush attachment particularly adapted for use in removing dust from coil springs and also as shown particularly by the preferred form there has been provided an attachment in which independent brushes may be removed as they become worn out without interfering with other brushes which have not been worn to such a degree as to necessitate their removal and replacement of other brushes.

While various changes may suggest themselves in the detailed construction of this attachment it should be understood that such changes will be in the spirit and scope of the there will also be four brush elements. 'I'he brush elements may as'shown in Figs. Land 3 be of such length as to project beyond the end of the tapered portion in order to bring the entire attachment down to a smaller size to lit the smaller portion of openings in coil springs.

Referring now to the form of invention shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 in which there is shown a tube 30 having a portion 3l adapted to be iltted to a hose oi'. a vacuum cleaning apparatus and a second or tapered portion 32 projected from the first fportion. In this tapered portion there is arranged sets of air openings 33 similar to the air openings and 26 above` mentioned with reference to the preferred form of the invention. These sets of openings are circumferentially spaced about the tapered portion 32. Between each adjacent set there is disposed longitudinally extending indentations 34 extending substantially the entire length of the tapered portion. These indentations are diagonally opposite and there are four in all.

The brush elements in this form are different than those (in the other form of the invention in that their length is over twice the length of a single indented portion in the tapered portion. These brush elements are made by the twisting of wires 35 and 36 between which is disposed brush fibers 31. These Wires are twisted tight to rigidly contain the brush bers. One of 'the brush elements may. be designated by the numerai 38 and the other brush element designated by theV numeral 39. Each brush element upon being attached to the attachment 3l is folded back on itself to take on a hairpin shape and the legs of the same are seated in the longitudinally extending indentations 34, one leg of one element being in one indentation, and the other leg of the same element being in an indentation diagonally opposite from the iirst indentation. As shown in Fig. 'l the brush element 39 will surround the end of the brush element 38 at right angles with respect thereto and will be diagonally opposite indentations. The legs of each of these brush elements are maintained in these indentations by welding such as indicated at 40 the ends ofthe same to the indentations.

'I'he principle of operation of each form of invention is similar in that the dust is agitated by the brush elements and when so removed from the coil springsand stirred up in the air is drawn into the air openings of the attachpresen-t invention as dened in the appended claims. l

What is.,.claimed is:

1. An attachment for vacuum cleaners comprising a tube having an attachable portion and a second portion projecting from the attachable portion, said second portion having a slot cut through its wall and extending substantially the entire length thereof and open at one end, a brush element having attaching means including recesses and adapted to slide through the open end of said slot so that the recesses engage with the walls of the slot the same being thereby maintained against inward and outward movement, and means for maintaining said element lengthwise in said slot.

-2. An attachment for vacuum cleaners comprising a tube having a first portion adapted to be fitted to the vacuum cleaner and a second portion projected from the first portion, said second portion having four air openings circumferentially spaced thereabout and four longitudiing thereby maintained against inward and outward movement, and means for maintaining the l elements lengthwise in'the slots.

3. An attachment for vacuum cleaners comprising a tube having an attaching portion for attachment to the vacuum cleaners and a tapered portion projected from the attaching portion, said tapered lportion having a plurality of sets of air openings extending longitudinally therealong and each set circumferentially spaced with respect to each other thereabout, some of the sets having more openings than other sets. and all o'f the openings arranged so that individual diagonally opposite openings will be out of alignment with each other, and having longitudinally extending open-ended slots, one between adjacent sets of air openings, separable brush element having attaching recesses slidable through the open ends of said slots so that the recesses engage the walls of the slot to thereby maintain the element against inward and outward movement, and means for removably maintaining said elements in said slots.

4. An attachment for vacuum cleaners comprising a tube having a first portion adapted to be attached to the vacuum cleaner and a second portion projected from the rst portion, said second portion having a plurality of air openings and a plurality of longitudinally extending open ended slots, each slot being adjacent to an air opening, brush elements each of which having attaching recess at each side along its length and adapted to slide through the open end of one of said slots so that a recess engages with `the walls of said slots to thereby maintain the element against inward and outward movement, and means for removably maintaining each of the elements in their respective slots. t

5. An attachment for vacuum cleaners comprising a tube having an open ended slotted portion therein and a brush element adapted for attachment to said slotted portion including a rodlike member, and a partial sleeve-like member fitted about the rod member to retain brush bers therebetween, said sleeve member when so tted providing for recess at each side along its length with which to engage with the opposite walls of said slotted portion respectively, whereby the element will be maintained against inward and outward movement within the slotted portion.

6. An attachment for vacuum cleaners comprising a tube having an open ended slotted portion 'and a brush element adapted for attachment to said slotted portion including a rod-like member and a partial sleeve-like member fitted about the rod member to retain brush iibers therebetween, said sleeve-like member when so tted providing for recess means with which to engage with the walls of said slotted portion and being such as to maintain the element against both inward and outward movement with respect to the tube, said rod extending beyond one end of said sleeve and having a hook shaped portion thereon, and said tube having meansv for receiving said hook portion of said rod member whereby said brush element is maintained in said slot.

CHESTER R. PoLmT'r. 

